Mathieu van der Poel recalls special Amstel Gold Race win: "It felt special"

With Amstel Gold Race quickly approaching, Mathieu van der Poel has recalled on his 2019 win which was one of the most thrilling finales in modern cycling, one of the victories that have been most iconic in the Dutch superstar's career.

In an interview with Wielerflits, he has talked about that year, and recalls it very fondly: "The victory in the Amstel Gold Race was my big breakthrough internationally. That spring I was already very satisfied with my victories in Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Brabantse Pijl. Also the performance in the Tour of Flanders, where I finished fourth, gave me a lot of satisfaction. Especially because after all the bad luck and a long chase in the deep final, I was still able to impress on the last climb, the Paterberg. Those are beautiful moments," he said.

After an aggressive race, van der Poel had been dropped in the final climbs as Julian Alaphilippe and Jakob Fuglsang entered another chapter of their 2019 battle and headed into the final kilometers isolated. As a lull in the pace saw the chasing group come near, it was van der Poel himself who paced the group back into the front of the race, and with around 200 meters to go made the catch with the front group and directly passed it as he sprinted towards the win after a long effort with the group behind.

Although it was his 17th win as a pro on the road, and after multiple wins in World, European and national championships in cyclocross, this victory stood out to him as a turning point in his career: "After five or six hours in the race I realized that I was able to maintain my position in the pack quite easily from the front. When you're heading from the front, after all that twisting, you'll ride those steep hills and turns up easier than if you had to wriggle in the middle of the group. That has given me a lot of confidence.”

"I know almost every road in the hilly landscape. It felt special that on the roads where I often cycled as a boy, I now managed to win the most important classic." Van der Poel will be at the start of the race this Sunday as one of the main favourites. After a lingering back issue that has taken a month off his training schedule in January, he has returned in style at Milano-Sanremo where he finished third. He followed that with a stage win at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, Dwars door Vlaanderen and finally the Tours des Flandres in what was a shocking return to competition.